Concrete-mixing-machine control means



July 21, 1925. 1,546,398

E.H.MORTAG CONCRETE MIXING MACHINE CONTROL MEANS Filed Feb. 12, 1925 Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,546,398 PATENT OFFICE.

ED'WARD I'I. MORTAG; OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO KOEHRING COM- PANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION.

CONCRETE-MIXING-MACHINE CONTROL IJEANS.

7 Application fi led February 12,1925. Serial 1T0. 8,761.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD H. MORTAG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Concrete- Mixing-Machine Control Means, of which the following is a specification.

In the use of large concrete mixing machines of the stationary type particularly, in conjunction with building operations, different conditions are met with in regard to the location of the mixer when it is working in crowded quarters or in places where the ordinary control from the ground is unsuited to the particular conditions of operation.

The primary purpose of the present invention has been to so design the mixer, its supporting means and the operating instrumentalities therefor, as to provide control points located at different positions in rela tion to the mixing machine proper. For instance, a control is provided for operation of the discharge chute from the ground, and another control is provided for overhead operation, that is, for operation from above the mixer, when there is provided an overhead or similar platform considerably ele vated from the ground and adjacent to the top of the mixer, according to the invention.

Furthermore, the principle of control at' different points is availed of in conjunction with means used in connection with a charging hopper for controlling the charging of the mixing drum.

By the control instrumentalities above re ferred to, the mixer is given a degree of working versatility not heretofore available in machines of this type, and restrictions found in some of the most efficient working layouts are thereby overcome with considerable advantage to the contractor who finds it necessary to employ mixing machines under various conditions regarding the location of the site and requirements of operation of the machine.

A complete understanding of the invention will be had upon reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description given hereinafter, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout.

In the drawings the figure is a perspective View of a stationary type mixer wherein the framework of the machine, supports, and elevated platform are shown, and illustrating the several controls for certain working parts of the machine. I

Referring to the drawings, the mixing machine illustrated is of a well-known type, wherein the main support comprises sills 1, which support the base frame 2. This base frame 2 comprises longitudinal and trans verse channels suitably, fabricated together and. provided with supporting rollers 3, upon which the mixing drum 4 is mounted to revolve in the well-known manner. Any suitable power plant, such as the engine 5 illustrated, or an explosive engine may be used for driving the drum i, these particular features of the machine as just set forth being conventional, and immaterial to-the invention hereinafter presented,

It will be noted that projecting upwardly from the base frame of the machine is vertical framework, which includes the uprights 6, at the top portion of which is connected and supported a horizontal platform 1. The platform 7 may be located above the drum 1, or if desired, it could be disposed one side of the drum considerably above the ground level, and when so arranged it forms in either position a support on which workmen who control the operations of the mixing machine, may stand. At one end of the base frame 2 there projects upwardlya special framework consisting'of the spaced uprights 8 connected at their upper ends some distance above the platform 7, by means of the cross-piece 9. The uprightsS .may be connected with the platform 7, if desired, to assist in supporting the latter, but

the primary purpose of the framework just LlQSCllbBCl is to form aconvenient supporting means for the operating shaft 10, upon which is mounted at one end the grooved drum 11, the opposite end of said shaft carrying a hand controlling or operating wheel 12, provided with a handle 13. In like manner the framework 8' 9. supports a second operating or control shaft let, carrying the cable drum 15, and a, controlling wheel 16, provided with'a handle 17. The framework 89, may be equipped with suitable bearing means at its upper end, in which the shafts 10 and 14 are mounted. The means including the parts 1 1, 15 and 16, is employed primarily for controlling the operation of'the discharge chute 18, movarms 21 mounted on a rock shaft 22.- The rock shaft 22 is the operating shaft for moving the discharge chute 18 from its inactive, non-discharging position shown in the drawings, to an active, discharging position in which it feeds the contents of the drum 4 down upon a stationary chute 18, suitably supported on certain of the uprights '6 of the main vertical'framework previously described. 'The rock shaft 22 is equipped'with a toothed sector 23, adapted to mesh with a toothed gear carried by the actuating shaft 24, mounted in suitable bearing means on one of the uprights8of the auxiliary frame. 'This shaft 24 carries an operating wheel 25 aliiixedthereto, to turn through, and having a handle '26. From the wheel near the upper end of the frame 8-9 to .the wheel on the shaft 24, runs cable connecting means '27, comprising a cable preferably passed one or more times around each ,of the-wheels'l5 and 25, said cable having portions thereof crossing one another between the wheels.

It will be .evident from the foregoing that by turning 'the hand wheel '16, the Wheel or drum 15 will be rotated and its rotation communicated to the wheel 25, operating the pinion on the shaft 24, which meshes with the sector '23, andin this manner an oper- 'ator standing on the platform 7 is enabled to control the discharging action of the mixing drum 4 from its'elevated position, or should circumstances permit orv require, an operator may correspondingly control the said action by directly operating the hand wheel 25 located at the lower elevation.

The small drum 11 on the shaft 10 is con nected by a cable Wrapped one or more times around the same, with movement transmitting wheel 28 mounted on a shaft 29, carried with suitable standard or standards 30 on theframework of the machine. The shaft 29 is ahopper door operating shaft. That is to say, it constitutes an operating means "for a door which controls'the passage of "materials from the hopper '31 into the mixer 34; is mounted.

While I 'havenot illustrated the particular gate, or door means at the hopper 31, operatedby the shaft '29, the same is not material in detail to this invention, which involves the controlling features, rather than the par- I ticular mixing machine features in conjunction with whch they are employed.

It will be evident that the discharging action of-the drum 4 may be readily controlled from the elevated position at which theoperator maystand on the platform 7, or from the ground level from which the wheel 25 is accessible foractuation. The same is true in regard to the gate or hopper door controlling means '29, in its relation to the operating or hand wheels 12 and 3,4.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new,'and"desire to cover by Letters Patent,jis: V

1. In combination, .a concrete mixing machine, comprising a mixing drum, discharge control means for said drum, a base frame upon which the drum is mounted, control means for the said discharge means adjacent to the said base frame and accessible'for operation by a workman standing near the said base frame, a framework for'the miner extending upwardly from said base frame, a platform carried said framework and considerably elevated above the base .frame,

7 and control means adjacent to said elevated platform operatively connected to' the control means at the lower elevation adjacent to the base frame, wherebyhthe discharge control means for the mixer may be operated from the higher or lower elevations of the platform and base frame respectively adjacent to which a workman or operator may stand.

2. In a concrete mixing machine, in combination, a base frame, a .miXing drum mounted thereon, means for controlling'the action of said mixing drum, a meansfor controlling .the action of the contents of the mixing drum, including an operating shaft, a control wheel connected with said shaft, and disposed at an elevation adjacent to the base frame, a second control wheel for operating said shaft, disposed at an elevation above the drum and considerably above the previously mentioned control Wheel, cable means connecting said control wheels at the two elevations referred to, and a plat form adjacent to the uppermost of the control'wheels, upon whichan operator may stand in a position to actuate the uppermost of said control wheels.

3. In a miXing machi-ne, in combination,

a base supporting frame, a mixing drum mounted thereon, a framework projecting upwardly adjacent to the base supporting frame, a platform carried by said framework .and disposed at an elevation adjacent to the top of the drum, means for controlling the action of the contents of the drum,

and including a rock shaft, a hand wheel, an operating connection between said hand wheel and said rock shaft, the said hand wheel and rock shaft being disposed at one elevation in respect to the mixing drum, a second hand wheel located at a different elevation in respect to the drum and operable from the platform above mentioned, and

" cable operating means connecting the said hand Wheels together for simultaneous movement, whereby the rock shaft may he actuated by the operation of either hand Wheel by a person standing adjacent to the elevation at Which the particular hand Wheel 10 is located.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EDWARD H. MORTAG. 

